This invention relates to an assembly for sharpening blades and more particularly to such an assembly of the type including a blade holding device and a sharpening member cooperable with the blade holding device for guiding a sharpening stone of the sharpening member across an edge of a blade held by the holding device.
In the prior art, there has been developed a type of blade sharpening assembly which basically includes a blade holding device and a sharpening member cooperable with the holding device to sharpen an edge of a blade held by the holding device. The holding device typically has consisted of a pair of blade holding members or jaws pivotally connected together at a fulcrum point, means for angularly displacing one set of ends of the blade holding members about the fulcrum point to correspondingly angularly displace an opposite set of ends of such holding members for clamping a blade therebetween, and a guide post usually connected to or formed integrally with one of the blade holding members, provided with a plurality of spaced openings. The sharpening member typically has consisted of a gripping portion having a sharpening stone disposed on an underside thereof and engageable with an edge of a blade held by the blade holding members, when in use, and a longitudinally disposed rod portion adapted to be received in a selected opening of the guide post for guiding the sharpening member as the sharpening stone portion thereof is moved in a reciprocating motion across the blade edge. Examples of such type of blade sharpening device are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,320,892 and 4,486,982 to Howard F. Longbrake, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,512,112, 4,714,239 and 4,777,770 to Arthur L. LeVine and U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,801 to John R. Anthon et al.
In each of such type of blade holding device, it has been found that the design thereof has been unduly complicated resulting in high manufacturing costs, awkward and difficult assembly and disassembly of the components of the device and unsatisfactory use of the device. It thus has further been found to be desirable to provide an improved blade sharpening device of the type described, obviating the various design flaws attendant to prior art blade sharpening devices.
Accordingly, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide an improved assembly for sharpening blades.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a blade sharpening assembly of the type utilizing a blade holding device provided with a guide post and a sharpening device provided with a gripping portion, a sharpening stone disposed on an underside of the gripping portion thereof and engageable with an edge of a blade held by the blade holding assembly, and a longitudinally disposed rod portion receivable within a selected opening of the guide post for guiding the sharpening member as the sharpening stone thereof is moved across the edge portion of the blade with a reciprocating motion.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved blade sharpening assembly which may be used in either hand held or bench mounted positions.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved blade sharpening assembly which is comparatively simple in design, relatively inexpensive to manufacture, easy to quickly assemble and disassemble and effective in use.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those persons having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein: